Why RuPaul is sitting on top of the reality television world

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By Scott Ellis

In the early 1990s, a brash young performer named RuPaul was making waves on the New York club scene when he decided to try something new.

Already recognised as a leader of the highly-competitive drag queen community, RuPaul wanted to take that fame to the next level and chose to release an album and single to do it.

A decade of fun: RuPaul's Drag Race.Credit:Stan Australia

The result was everything he dreamed of and more.

The breakout track “Supermodel (You Better Do It)” fast became a staple of dance clubs around the globe – grunge music icon Kurt Cobain of Nirvana even named it as one of his favourite releases of 1993 – and the road to world domination had begun.

Fast forward to the present and RuPaul Andre Charles is now recognised as one of the world’s most influential people (named “An Icon” in Time’s 2017 list of the world’s leaders), has released 14 albums, appeared in a dozen films, authored two books and is host of the reality series RuPaul’s Drag Race, for which he recently received his third Emmy Award in a row as Outstanding Host For a Reality or Reality-Competition series.

Oh, and that’s on top of nine other Emmy nominations this year for Drag Race and a further two for the behind-the-scenes series Drag Race: Untucked where extra footage and analysis of the series is aired.

The success of Drag Race is easy to understand – set in the Drag Queen world RuPaul made his own more than a decade ago, it’s a fast-paced, flashy, riveting TV with some of the most engaging and over the top contestants to ever make it to screen, all competing to be named the best new drag star.

It’s unmissable reality television - anyone who thinks the infighting of Survivor or the bitchiness of MKR are something should take a look here for a masterclass in the art.

But more than that, RuPaul said when accepting his Emmy this year, it’s a show about love.

“Our show is about love and courage and the tenacity of the human spirit,” he told a cheering crowd.

Speaking backstage after the awards, he added than many of the contestants who appeared on Drag Race had been “pushed to the side” by society for being different and this was a chance for them to be not only accepted, but celebrated.

Threepeat: RuPaul Charles, right, has claimed a hat trick of Emmy awards for outstanding host for a reality or reality-competition program.Credit:AP

It’s that celebration, said cultural studies scholar and expert in drag culture Dr Kerryn Drysdale, that has made Drag Race not only a successful TV show but a timely addition to the television landscape.

Diverse cultures have long been a part of society, but until relatively recently had been under-represented on the small screen.

“What RuPaul is doing is really speaking to a demand for more LGBTIQ representation across mainstream entertainment platforms,” Dr Drysdale said.

“And the format is a bit different to other forms of LGBTIQ representation. When you think about Ellen, Will & Grace, The L Word and so on, because there’s something a bit different about the format of a reality TV show in that while it’s highly produced… it feels more real.”

By being real, the series has not only given members of drag culture or LGBTIQ a chance to see themselves reflected on screen, it has also opened the doors to a more mainstream audience, who have learned to accept people on screen they may not have been likely to meet in their lives.

“This isn’t necessarily new, there’s always been a form of heterosexual interest in Drag Queen (culture) from the end of World War 2,” Dr Drysdale said.

“I think that RuPaul has definitely taken this to a whole new level of visibility but it’s not to say that he is necessarily the original person who has brought drag queen culture to mainstream audiences.

“It builds into that whole history of where mainstream entertainment take from minority cultures.”

And while RuPaul might be presenting a window to the drag world for many, it’s worth noting this is a very American view and the next step could be to see a local version of the concept.

Dr Drysdale pointed out the Miss First Nations competition for Indigenous Australian Drag Queens is already building.

“Part of that (process of) shifting away from documentaries and into other formats, that blurring of the boundaries, that definitely has the potential to be taken up here in Australia!” Dr Drysdale added.

Whether that means Australia will get its own Drag Race or not, RuPaul has hinted there could be other projects expanding the format coming soon.

“You add drag queens in to any situation and it will handle itself,” he told reporters at The Emmys. “(The future) is going to be really good!”

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